Occupy PR: An analysis of online media communications of Occupy Wall Street and Occupy London

• Although Occupy protests have concluded, occupy groups continue to communicate online.
• Occupy Wall Street and Occupy London continue to be the most visible occupy accounts.
• The websites and Twitter of Occupy Wall Street and Occupy London preach to the converted.
• Occupiers, like corporate communicators and PR practitioners, struggle to find the balance between managing their image, controlling and sharing their messages and identifying and incentivizing conversations online.

This article explores the communication strategies and struggles of the Occupy movement from a protest PR perspective through the analysis of online communication and digital footprints of some of the most prominent English-language Occupy groups: Occupy Wall Street and Occupy London. To do so, the article uses Adi & Moloney’s (2012) social media audit principles and Sommerfeldt’s (2011) mobilization resources together with social media data analysis platforms like Foller.me, Klout.com, Alexa.com and Ahrefs.com. It shows that like corporations, Occupy groups also struggle to find the balance between managing their reputation, controlling their image, sharing their messages and identifying and incentivizing conversations online.